Entity-Type Search System

ABSTRACT

A method includes receiving a search query from a user device and selecting entity type records from an entity type data store based on the query. Each of the entity type records includes an entity type name and entity type facets that each include terms descriptive of the entity type name. Selecting the entity type records includes identifying matches between the entity type facets and the query. The method includes selecting function records from a function data store based on the query and the entity type names from the selected entity type records. Each of the function records includes an entity type field with entity type names; an access URL template; instructions for completing the access URL template; and function facets with terms descriptive of an application state accessed using the completed access URL. The method includes returning search results including the completed access URLs to the user device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/220,737, filed on Sep. 18, 2015. The entiredisclosure of the application referenced above is incorporated byreference.

FIELD

This disclosure relates to techniques for generating search results, andmore particularly to generating search results based on entity types ofinterest to a user.

BACKGROUND

The background description provided here is for the purpose of generallypresenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently namedinventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, aswell as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify asprior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedlyadmitted as prior art against the present disclosure.

Search systems can be utilized in many different fields. Most searchsystems utilize crawlers to identify content. A search system can indexcrawled content, such that the search system is able to search thecrawled content. Many applications, however, are difficult or impossibleto crawl. For instance, social networking applications such as TWITTERand FACEBOOK have real-time content feeds. In the case of a real-timecontent feeds, it is difficult for a crawler to crawl all possibleupdates to all possible content feeds of an application. Further, evenif a crawler were to crawl these content feeds, the relevance of thecrawled content diminishes as time passes. Thus, at query time, the mostrelevant content may not yet be indexed. In another example, someapplications allow users to provide different types of search parameterswhen executing specialized searches. For example, the YELP applicationby Yelp, Inc. allows users to enter different attributes (e.g., cost,cuisine type, location, outdoor seating available, etc) as additionalsearch parameters. This creates a combinatorial explosion of crawlablestates of the YELP application due to the vast number of locations andother searchable attributes.

SUMMARY

In a feature, a method includes: receiving a search query from a userdevice via a network; and selecting a plurality of entity type recordsincluded in an entity type data store based on the received searchquery. Each of the entity type records includes: an entity type name;and one or more entity type facets, each of which include terms that aredescriptive of the entity type name, where selecting the plurality ofentity type records includes identifying matches between terms in theone or more entity type facets and terms of the search query. The methodfurther includes: selecting a plurality of function records included ina function data store based on at least one of the search query and theentity type names from the selected plurality of entity type records,each of the function records including: an entity type field includingone or more entity type names; an access uniform resource locator (URL)template and instructions for completing the access URL template to forma completed access URL; and one or more function facets including termsthat are descriptive of an application state accessed using thecompleted access URL. The method further includes transmitting searchresults to the user device via the network, the search results includingthe completed access URLs from the selected function records.

In further features, the method further includes selecting the pluralityof function records based on matches between the entity type names ofthe selected plurality of entity type records and the entity type namesof the entity type fields in the function records.

In further features, the method further includes selecting the pluralityof function records based on matches between the search query and termsof the one or more function facets.

In further features, the method further includes generating the entitytype records in the entity type data store based on entity recordsincluded in an entity data store, where each of the entity recordsincludes an entity name, an entity type indicating a category of theentity name, and entity information related to the entity name.

In further features, for N of the function records, the instructions forcompleting the access URL template includes instructions for insertingthe search query into the access URL template, where N is an integergreater than zero.

In further features, a method includes: receiving a search query from auser device via a network; and selecting a plurality of entity typerecords included in an entity type data store based on the receivedsearch query. Each of the entity type records includes: an entity typename; and one or more entity type facets, each of which include termsthat are descriptive of the entity type name, where selecting theplurality of entity type records includes identifying matches betweenterms in the one or more entity type facets and terms of the searchquery. The method further includes: selecting a plurality of functionrecords included in a function data store based on at least one of thesearch query and the entity type names from the selected plurality ofentity type records, each of the function records including: an entitytype field including one or more entity type names; an access uniformresource locator (URL) template and instructions for completing theaccess URL template to form a completed access URL; and one or morefunction facets including terms that are descriptive of an applicationstate accessed using the completed access URL. The method furtherincludes: accessing application states using the completed access URLsof the plurality of function records; generating a final set of searchresults based on the accessed application states; and transmitting thefinal set of search results to the user device via the network.

In further features, the completed access URLs are search URLs, andaccessing the application states includes: performing a plurality ofthird party searches using the search URLs; and receiving third partysearch results from the third party searches.

In further features, generating the final set of search results includesselecting a set of third party search results, and transmitting thefinal set of search results to the user device includes transmitting theselected set of third party search results.

In further features, the method further includes generating thecompleted access URLs by including terms from the search query into theaccess URL template according to the instructions.

In further features, generating the final set of search results includesselecting a set of third party search results and scoring the set ofthird party search results, and transmitting the final set of searchresults to the user device includes transmitting the selected and scoredset of third party search results.

In a feature, a search system is described. The search system includesat least one processing unit and a computer readable medium includinginstructions executed by the at least one processing unit to perform amethod. The method includes: receiving a search query from a user devicevia a network; and selecting a plurality of entity type records includedin an entity type data store based on the received search query. Each ofthe entity type records includes: an entity type name; and one or moreentity type facets, each of which include terms that are descriptive ofthe entity type name, where selecting the plurality of entity typerecords includes identifying matches between terms in the one or moreentity type facets and terms of the search query. The method furtherincludes selecting a plurality of function records included in afunction data store based on at least one of the search query and theentity type names from the selected plurality of entity type records,each of the function records including: an entity type field includingone or more entity type names; an access uniform resource locator (URL)template and second instructions for completing the access URL templateto form a completed access URL; and one or more function facetsincluding terms that are descriptive of an application state accessedusing the completed access URL. The method further includes:transmitting search results to the user device via the network, thesearch results including the completed access URLs from the selectedfunction records.

In further features, the first instructions further include instructionsfor selecting the plurality of function records based on matches betweenthe entity type names of the selected plurality of entity type recordsand the entity type names of the entity type fields in the functionrecords.

In further features, the first instructions further include instructionsfor selecting the plurality of function records based on matches betweenthe search query and terms of the one or more function facets.

In further features, the first instructions further include instructionsfor generating the entity type records in the entity type data storebased on entity records included in an entity data store, where each ofthe entity records includes an entity name, an entity type indicating acategory of the entity name, and entity information related to theentity name.

In further features, for N of the function records, the secondinstructions for completing the access URL template includesinstructions for inserting the search query into the access URLtemplate, where N is an integer greater than zero.

In further features, the first instructions further include instructionsfor: accessing application states using the completed access URLs of theplurality of function records; and generating a final set of searchresults based on the accessed application states, and the firstinstructions for transmitting search results to the user device via thenetwork include instructions for transmitting the final set of searchresults to the user device via the network.

In further features, the completed access URLs are search URLs, thefirst instructions for accessing the application states includeinstructions for: performing a plurality of third party searches usingthe search URLs; and receiving third party search results from the thirdparty searches, and the first instructions for generating a final set ofsearch results include instructions for generating the final set ofsearch results based on the third party search results.

In further features, the first instructions for generating the final setof search results include instructions for selecting a set of thirdparty search results, and the first instructions for transmitting thefinal set of search results to the user device include instructions fortransmitting the selected set of third party search results.

In further features, the first instructions for generating the completedaccess URLs include instructions for generating the completed accessURLs by including terms from the search query into the access URLtemplate according to the second instructions.

In further features, the first instructions for generating the final setof search results include instructions for selecting a set of thirdparty search results and scoring the set of third party search results,and the first instructions for transmitting the final set of searchresults to the user device include instructions for transmitting theselected and scored set of third party search results to the userdevice.

Further areas of applicability of the present disclosure will becomeapparent from the detailed description, the claims, and the drawings.The detailed description and specific examples are intended for purposesof illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of thedisclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The details of one or more examples are set forth in the accompanyingdrawings and the description below. Other features, objects, andadvantages will be apparent from the description and drawings, and fromthe claims.

FIGS. 1-2 illustrate an example search system.

FIGS. 3A-3C illustrate example entity type records.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example search system in communication with anexample entity type record generation system.

FIGS. 5A-5B illustrate example function records.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example environment including a search system, asearch result processing system, and a plurality of third party servers.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example user interface including user selectablelinks for final search results.

FIGS. 8-9 illustrate example methods for generating search results basedon identified entity types.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The figures and the following description relate to exampleimplementations by way of illustration only. It should be noted thatfrom the following discussion, alternative implementations of thestructures and methods disclosed herein will be readily recognized asviable alternatives that may be employed without departing from thescope of the disclosure.

A search system of the present disclosure (e.g., FIGS. 1-2) generatessearch results in response to a received query wrapper (e.g., a user'ssearch query and/or context). Initially, the search system selects thetypes of entities that may be interesting to a user. The search systemthen generates one or more access uniform resource locators (URLs) foraccessing web/application states associated with the selected entitytypes. In some implementations, the access URLs may be search URLs(e.g., app-specific search URLs for third party applications) used tosearch for entities of the selected entity types. By starting the searchusing entity type selection rather than entity selection, the searchsystem may not be required to index and search through a large amount ofdifferent possible entities associated with search queries. Instead, thesearch system may find a user's potential areas of interest searching asmaller entity type data store. The system may then lead users torelevant dynamic search results based on the user's potential areas ofinterest (e.g., entity types).

The search system includes a user-interest determination module(hereinafter “interest determination module”) and an entity type datastore. The interest determination module determines the user's interestsbased on the received query wrapper. For example, the interestdetermination module may determine the user's entity types of interest.The entity type data store includes a plurality of entity type records(e.g., FIGS. 3A-3C) that each include data related to a single entitytype. The interest determination module searches the entity type recordsbased on data included in the query wrapper. The interest determinationmodule selects entity types from the entity type records based on howwell data in the query wrapper matches data include in the entity typerecords. The selected entity types represent the user's entity types ofinterest, as indicated by the query wrapper.

The search system includes a function search module and a function datastore. The function search module generates the access URLs associatedwith the entity types of interest. The function data store includes aplurality of function records (e.g., FIGS. 5A-5B) that each include datarelated to a function provided by the generated access URLs, such as asearch function. For example, the function records may include an entitytype associated with the function (e.g., an entity type searched by thesearch function) and other searchable data (e.g., search terms). Thefunction search module may select function records with entity typesthat match the entity types of interest, thereby accessing variousweb/app functionalities associated with the entity types of interest.

The function records may include access URL templates and templaterules. The function search module may generate access URLs by completingthe access URL template based on the template rules and data included inthe query wrapper (e.g., the search query). In some cases, the accessURL templates and template rules may be used to generate search URLs. Inthese cases, the access URL template may be a URL that is completedusing the received user search query. In a specific example, if theuser's search query is “fine dining,” a query for restaurant entities,then the completed access URL may be a search URL for the query “finedining” in an application that provides search for restaurant entitytypes.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, in some implementations, the search systemcommunicates with a search result processing system (hereinafter “resultprocessing system”). The result processing system may access applicationfunctionality using the access URLs generated by the search system, andthen generate final search results for transmission to the user device.In some implementations, the result processing system may execute theapplications associated with the access URLs (e.g. via emulation). Inthese cases, the result processing system may input the access URLs intothe respective executed applications and use the output of the executedapplications in the final search results. In cases where the access URLsinclude search URLs, the executed applications may retrieve third partysearch results from third party servers according to the search URLs.The result processing system may then generate the final search resultsfor the user device based on the received third party search results. Inthis implementation, the search system and result processing systemoperate as a general purpose real-time search engine that leveragesmultiple specialized search engines.

The user device may communicate with the search system via the network.The network through which the search system and the user devicescommunicate may include various types of networks, such as a local areanetwork (LAN), wide area network (WAN), and/or the Internet.

The user device may receive a search query from the user and transmit aquery wrapper to the search system that may include the search queryand/or contextual data (i.e., context). The search system receives thequery wrapper. The context may include geo-location data indicating theuser's geolocation and platform data (e.g., OS version and device type).In some cases, the context may include data indicating a state of theuser, such as whether the user is walking, driving, near a specificlocation, or other information.

In some implementations, the user device and/or the search system (e.g.,the interest determination module) can translate user context into wordsfor use during search (e.g., for matching terms in the entity typerecords and function records). For example, the user's location can betranslated into a city name. As another example, if the user is near anational monument, such as Mount Rushmore, the user's location can betranslated to include the phrase “near Mount Rushmore.” Additionalcontextual phrases may include “near home,” “at home,” or an indicationof where a user has been recently located.

As described herein, in some implementations, the function search modulecan insert the received search query, or a modified version of thesearch query, into an access URL template to generate a complete accessURL for an application. In cases where the search system does notreceive a search query, and instead receives context, the functionsearch module can generate a complete access URL based on the receivedcontext (e.g., geolocation and/or user state). The search system may notreceive a search query in some cases, such as in an advertisementscenario where user context is used to advertise.

The interest determination module receives the query wrapper. Theinterest determination module selects one or more entity types based onthe query wrapper. The interest determination module outputs a list ofthe selected entity types. The list of entity types may indicate theentity types that are of interest to the user. Example entity types mayinclude, but are not limited to, a flight entity type, a restaurantentity type, and a movie entity type. In some implementations, theinterest determination module may determine a score along with eachselected entity type that indicates how relevant the selected entitytype is to the received query wrapper. Put another way, the score mayindicate a level of confidence that the user is interested in theparticular entity type. The score indicating the relevance of the entitytype to the query wrapper may be referred to as the “entity type score.”

Each of the entity type records may be associated with a single entitytype. Accordingly, in some implementations, the entity type data storemay include one entity type record for each entity type that can bereturned by the interest determination module. An entity type record caninclude a name of an entity type along with additional information. Theinterest determination module may select the entity type records basedon matches between data in the query wrapper (e.g., query terms) and theinformation included in the entity type record.

FIGS. 3A-3C illustrate example entity type records. The illustratedentity type records may represent data related to entity types stored inthe entity type data store. For example, the illustrated entity typerecords may represent data in one or more databases, indices (e.g.,inverted indices), tables, files, or other data structures which may beused to implement the techniques of the present disclosure. In someimplementations, data included in the entity type records may beincluded in an inverted index in which terms from the entity typerecords (e.g., facet terms) are mapped to entity types.

An entity type record may include an entity type name indicating theentity type associated with the information included in the entity typerecord. Example entity type names can include, but are not limited to“Flight,” “Restaurant,” and “Movie.” The entity type record may alsoinclude a variety of information related to the entity type representedby the entity type record. In one example, if the entity type record isfor the entity type “Restaurant,” then the entity type name may be“restaurant,” and the entity type record may include information (e.g.,terms) related to restaurants (e.g., cuisine types).

An entity type record may include different categories of termsassociated with the entity type. The categories of terms associated withthe entity type may be referred to herein as “entity type facets.” Thedifferent entity type facets may include terms that users may use (e.g.,frequently) to search for entities associated with the entity type. Putanother way, a facet may refer to a category of words that a user maylikely search for when interested in the entity type. Facets may alsohave a facet name that describes/categorizes the terms of the facet.Example facet names may include, but are not limited to, restaurantnames, cuisines, dish types, dining options, cities, and airport codes.Although the entity type record may include terms grouped by facets, insome implementations, the entity type record may also include fields forunstructured data.

Separation of words into facets may be representative of a user'sbehavior when searching for different entity types. For example, whensearching for entities of a particular entity type, a user may searchfor certain types of words that indicate the user's intent to findentities of a particular type. Furthermore, some facets of an entitytype may be more common or more indicative of a user's intent to searchfor entities of a certain type. Accordingly, as described herein,matches between terms of the search query/context and terms in differentfacets may be treated differently, depending on which facets arematched.

The same type of facet may be present in multiple entity type records.The same type of facet may also have the same list of terms across someentity type records. For example, the city facet may be included inmultiple different entity type records, and may include the same list ofcities in each of the different entity type records. In other cases, thesame types of facets may include different terms in different entitytype records. For example, terms than may not be relevant for the entitytype can be left out of the facet. In a specific example, city facetsincluded in different entity type records may be different if certaincities are not relevant to the entity type. For example, a navigationentity type record may include a larger list of cities than a flightentity type record because the city facet in the flight entity typerecord may be limited to cities with airports. In some implementations,a single facet file (e.g., a single city facet file with a list ofcities) may be used to populate the different entity type records. Inthis case, modification of the single facet file may be propagatedthrough the entity type records.

In some implementations, an entity type record may include a facet thatlists actions associated with the entity type in some manner. Forexample, the actions may be verbs that are associated with the entitytype, such as verbs that may be commonly used when searching forentities of that entity type, or verbs/phrases indicating actions thatcan be performed on the entity type (e.g., “reserve a table,” “readreview,” and “order movie”). In some implementations, the actionsincluded in the entity type records may each be chosen from a globalaction ontology defined by the owner/operator of the search system. Theactions chosen from the action ontology can be used in the entity typerecords as well as the function records. The number of available actionsmay vary per entity type. In some cases, an entity type may not haveassociated actions. In other cases, the entity type may be associatedwith one or more actions.

Actions may include verbs, such as fly, travel, eat, reserve, watch, andlisten, for example. In one example, if the entity type is “Flight,”then the entity type record may include the action “fly.” The fly actionmay be included in the entity type record because a user may intend tofind flights (i.e., flight type entities) when using the word “fly” inthe search query. In another example, if an entity type is “restaurant,”the “eat” and “reserve” actions may be included in the entity typerecord because a user may intend to eat at a restaurant and/or reserve atable at a restaurant when using the search words “eat” and “reserve.”

In some cases, the search query may include one or more terms that arethe same as terms included in the actions of the entity type records.For example, an action word may be included in the search query alongwith other words that are also included in the entity type record (e.g.,words included in other facets). The inclusion of action words in thesearch query along with other words that match the entity type recordmay be a stronger indication of user interest than when action words arenot present. In some cases, the presence of certain action words mayalone be a strong indicator of user interest in the entity type. Forexample, the words “fly” and “eat” may be strong indicators that theuser is searching for flight and restaurant entity types, respectively.

FIG. 3B illustrates an example entity type record for restaurant entitytypes. The entity name is “Restaurant.” The facets include “restaurantname,” “cuisine,” “dish types,” and “dining options.” The restaurantnames include “Chipotle,” “Five Guys,” “In-N-Out,” and “French Laundry.”The restaurant name facet is an example facet that includes explicitentity names associated with the entity type. Such a facet may be astrong facet for scoring. Accordingly, matching terms from therestaurant name facet may generally yield a higher entity type score.

The cuisine types may include “Mexican,” “American,” “French,” and“Thai,” among others. Although the cuisine type may be indicative thatthe user is interested in a restaurant entity type, the terms includedin the cuisine type may also be indicative of other entity types notrelated to restaurants. Accordingly, matches between the search queryand cuisine type facet may not yield as high of a scoring boost asmatches to the restaurant name facet.

The entity type record also includes facets for dish types and diningoptions. The dish types may include “Hamburger,” “Burrito,” “FrenchFries,” and “Crepes,” among others. The dining options may include“indoor seating,” “outdoor seating,” “drive through,” and “take out,”for example.

The entity type record also includes an action facet that includesactions associated with the restaurant entity type. Example actionsincluded in the entity type record may include, but are not limited to,“eat,” “dine,” “order,” and “deliver.”

FIG. 3C illustrates another example entity type record. The entity typename is “Flight.” The entity type record includes a city facet thatincludes city names (e.g., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, NewYork, etc.). The entity type record includes an airport code facet thatmay include airport codes (e.g., SFO, LAX, MSP, and JFK). The entitytype record includes actions (e.g., fly and travel). The entity typerecord also includes a flight keyword list that includes additionalwords associated with search queries related to flight entity types(e.g., flight, to, and from).

The interest determination module selects entity type records based onthe received query wrapper (e.g., the search query and/or context). Inorder to select entity type records, the interest determination modulemay score the entity type records based on how well the entity typerecords match the data in the query wrapper. A larger entity type scoremay indicate that the selected entity type is more relevant to thesearch query/context.

The interest determination module can implement a variety of differentscoring techniques to generate the entity type score. In someimplementations, the interest determination module can implement ascoring function that generates entity type scores based on factors thatmay include, but are not limited to, the number of terms matched, whichfacets are matched, the number of facets matched, whether an entity nameis matched, and other factors. For example, a greater number ofterms/facets matched may tend to result in a larger entity type scorebecause a greater number of term/facet matches may indicate that theentity type record is more relevant to the search query. As anotherexample, matches for different facets may be scored differently (e.g.,some facets may be scored higher than others). For example, matches tofacets that may be more indicative of user interest may score higherthan other facets. As a further example, a match between the searchquery and the entity type name may also increase the entity type scorebecause inclusion of an entity type name in the search query may be astrong indicator that the entity type record is relevant.

In some implementations, the interest determination module may implementa machine learned model to generate the entity type scores. The machinelearned model may be generated using a supervised learning model and/orbased on user analytics obtained during operation of the search system.

Different facets can have different weightings within an entity typerecord. The weightings can be entity type record specific such that afacet is not weighted the same across all entity type records, but canbe weighted according to its importance to that entity type. Forexample, if airport codes are a facet for a taxi entity type and aflight entity type, the weighting for an airport code may be heavier inthe flight entity type record than in the taxi entity type recordbecause the airport code in the query may be a strong indicator that theuser is looking for a flight, as opposed to a taxi. Initially, theweightings for the facets can be set manually (e.g., by the systemoperator), and the search system can modify the weightings over time(e.g., based on user analytics).

The entity type records can be created and updated manually and/orautomatically. In some implementations, the entity type records may beinitially created manually and then updated automatically over time. Thefacets included in the entity type records may also be generatedmanually and/or automatically. As described above, some facets may bemodified by removing terms that may not be relevant to the entity type.For example, for a flight entity type record, the search system operatormay remove a city name from a city facet if the city does not include anairport.

The entity type data can be acquired via crawling and scraping sitesand/or via partnerships with data providers, such as applicationdevelopers and data collection services (e.g., business directories).The number of entity types used may be selected by the systemowner/operator and may vary. In some implementations, one thousand ormore entity type records may be stored in the entity type data store.

With respect to FIG. 4, in some implementations, the entity type recordsmay be generated from entity records stored in an entity data store.Each of the entity records can include an entity name/ID, an entitytype, and additional entity information. An entity name may refer to anoun which denotes a person, animal, place, thing, or idea, such as abusiness (e.g., restaurant), a product, service, a piece of mediacontent, political organization/figure, public figure, or destination,for example.

Each entity record may include an entity type that may indicate acategory of the entity name/ID. The entity information of the entityrecord may include information describing the entity. The entityinformation may be separated into different fields. The types of fieldsincluded in the entity record may depend on the entity type of theentity record. In one example, an entity record for a restaurant mayinclude the name of the restaurant, the entity type “restaurant,” andentity information including fields for a restaurant location, cuisinesserved at the restaurant, menu items, and other restaurant relatedinformation. As another example, an entity record for a movie mayinclude the name of the movie, an entity type “movie,” and entityinformation including fields for the actors in the movie, the directorof the movie, the release date of the movie, and other movie relatedinformation.

In some implementations, an entity type record generation system (e.g.,an entity type record generation module) can create/update entity typerecords in the entity type data store. In some implementations, theentity type record generation system may create new entity type recordswhen new entity types are introduced in the entity data store. Thesystem may also update data in the entity type records based on dataincluded in the entity data store. For example, if new entity recordsare added for an existing entity type in the entity data store, thesystem can update the entity type records to include the newly addedinformation. In a specific example, if a new restaurant entity is addedto the entity data store, the system can update the entity type recordfor restaurants to include the entity name in the entity name field ofthe restaurant entity type record. Similarly, if an entity record isdeleted, the data associated with that entity record (e.g., entity name)can be removed from an entity type record.

The function search module generates one or more access URLs based on atleast one of the entity types selected by the interest determinationmodule, the search query, and the context. The access URLs may be searchURLs (e.g., app-specific search URLs) that search for entities havingthe entity types selected by the interest determination module. Forexample, if the interest determination module selects a restaurantentity type, then the function search module may generate an access URLfor a search page of an application including restaurant entities (e.g.,a list of restaurants relevant to the search query).

The function search module receives the list of one or more entity typesselected by the interest determination module, along with thecorresponding entity type scores. The function search module selects oneor more function records in the function data store based on the list ofone or more entity types, the entity type scores, the search query,and/or the context. For example, the function search module may scorefunction records and select the highest scoring function records. Insome implementations, the function search module may search an invertedindex of function records to perform the search for the functionrecords.

The function search module generates one or more access URLs based onthe selected function records. For example, the function search modulemay generate one or more access URLs for each function record selected.In order to generate an access URL, the function search module may fillin the access URL template based on the template rules in the functionrecord. For example, the function search module can insert the searchquery and/or context, or modified forms of the search query and/orcontext, into the access URL template to generate the access URL for theselected function record. In some cases, the access URL may be a searchURL that sets a user device into a state that searches for entities ofthe type indicated in the function record.

Although the function search module may use the output of the interestdetermination module, in some implementations, the output of theinterest determination module may be a service that is accessible toother third party servers via the network.

In some implementations, as illustrated in FIG. 5A, a function recordmay include the following fields: an application name/ID, a functionname, a platform, an entity type field, one or more function recordfacets, and an additional information field. The function record mayalso include an access URL template and template rules.

The application name/ID may identify the application associated with thefunction record. For example, the application name/ID may be theapplication for which the access URL is generated. The function name maybe a name selected by a search system operator to identify the functionassociated with the function record. For example, the function name mayinclude the application name and a human readable function portion. Inone example, if the function record generates a search on the Yelpapplication for restaurants, the function name may include the stringYelp/RestaurantSearch. The platform field may indicate the specificplatform (e.g., the OS version and device type) with which the accessURL is compatible.

The function record includes an entity type field that indicates theentity type associated with the function record. Although a singleentity type is illustrated, in some implementations, more than oneentity type may be included.

The one or more function record facets may vary based on the functionrepresented by the record. In general, the function record facets may begenerated based on the application state accessed by the completedaccess URL of the function record. For example, the function facets maybe groups of words that are included within the application stateaccessed by the completed access URL. In a specific example, if theapplication state includes search results, the facets can be datarelated to the search results, such as facets related to the entities ofthe search result. For example, if the function record is for a searchthat returns links to restaurants, then the facets can be related torestaurants (e.g., cuisine types and restaurant names). In some cases,the function record may include facet types that are similar to theentity type facets described herein (e.g., cities, airport codes,actions, etc.).

In some implementations, if the function record is associated with asearching function (e.g., the access URL is a search URL), the functionfacets may include a search-specific term facet that includes terms thatcan be used to define the search (e.g., selected from a menu in thesearch state). For example, if the search function is a search forflights and the search state allows searching by cities and airportcodes, then the function record may include city/airport facets forcities/airport codes that can be used to define the search (e.g.,selected from a menu during search). In some implementations, thefunction records may also include a miscellaneous facet that includesterms that may not otherwise fit into other facets.

The additional information field may include additional informationrelated to the function (e.g., unstructured information). For example,the additional information field may include additional terms notcategorized into facets. The additional information field may alsoinclude unstructured data that is retrieved from web/app states accessedby the access URL of the function record.

The function record includes an access URL template along with templaterules that define how the access URL template is to be completed. Insome implementations, the access URL template and template rules may beused to generate a platform specific-access URL that may only work on aspecific platform (e.g., OS and/or device type). In otherimplementations, the function records may include platform independentidentifiers (referred to herein as “function IDs”). A function ID maymap to a group of access URLs for accessing the same (or similar)function on different platforms (e.g., apps for different operatingsystems), such as a search function on different platforms. For example,a function ID for a restaurant search on the Yelp application may map todifferent access URLs for the Yelp application on different operatingsystems. The function record can include access URL templates andtemplate rules for each of the access URLs on the different platforms.

In some implementations, the function search module can output thefunction IDs to the user device and/or the result processing system. Theuser device and/or the result processing system can have the functionIDs translated to access URLs for a specific platform at a later time.For example, the function IDs can be translated for the user devicebased on the platform of the user device, as indicated in the querywrapper. In some cases, the function search module may perform thetranslation of a function ID to an access URL as a service to otherdevices. In other cases, another system (not illustrated) may translatethe function IDs to access URLs.

An application can be associated with one or more actions. For anapplication that can perform multiple actions, a first access URL and asecond access URL may be associated with a first action and a secondaction, respectively. For example, an application may be used to bothorder food from a restaurant and reserve a table at a restaurant. Inthis example, some states of the restaurant application are associatedwith the order action and other states are associated with the reserveaction. In some implementations, in cases where an application isassociated with multiple actions, the function records associated withthe application can be assigned the multiple actions, or some subset ofthe multiple actions. In other implementations where an application isassociated with multiple actions, the function records associated withthe application can be assigned the actions associated with the specificaccess URL of the function record. For example, function records foraccess URLs associated with the reserve action are assigned the reserveaction, while function records for access URLs associated with the orderaction are assigned the order action.

An actions facet may include a set of terms that describe the actionperformed by the particular function (e.g., the function provided by theaccess URL). For example, the actions may be words that indicate what auser wants to do with the application and/or how the user wants tointeract with an entity type. The same action terms can also be includedin the entity type records. The actions can be selected from an ontologyof actions used across applications. For example, actions can beassigned to newly developed applications from the ontology. As anotherexample, actions can be assigned/removed from already existingapplications as the functionality of the applications are modified overtime.

FIG. 5B illustrates an example function record. The function record isfor a fictional application named FlightApp that can perform searchesfor flights. The function record includes the application name FlightAppand platform data indicating the application is for Android version 4.0.The entity type is “Flight.” The action facet includes the term “Fly,”which is an action associated with flights. The facets for the functionrecord include airport codes, cities with airports, and airline names.The function record also includes a search-specific term facet havingflight specific search terms such as “one-way” and “round trip.”

The access URL template may be a portion of a web/native app URL thatincludes a section for inserting the search query string received fromthe user device. The template rules may include instructions forinserting the user's search query string into the access URL template toform a complete access URL. The complete access URL may launch theFlightApp application and cause the FlightApp application to perform asearch (e.g., an in-app search) using the user's search query.

The function record illustrated in FIG. 5B may not be the only functionrecord for the FlightApp application. The FlightApp application mayperform a variety of other search functions, such as searches forhelicopter tours. The function record for such a search may have adifferent access URL template and template rules that generate an accessURL that performs a helicopter tour search. The function record may alsoinclude different facets and facet terms related to searching forhelicopter tours, such as different airports, cities, and helicoptertour providers.

The function search module may select the function records based on theentity types selected by the interest determination module and theassociated entity type scores. Additionally, or alternatively, thefunction search module may select the function records based on thesearch query and/or context. In order to select function records, thefunction search module may score the function records based on how wellthe function records match the entity type, search query, and/orcontext. A higher score may indicate that the selected function is morerelevant to the entity type, search query, and/or context. The scoreindicating the relevance of the function record to the entity type,search query, and/or context may be referred to as the “function score.”

In some implementations, the function search module may require that theentity type field match one of the entity types selected by the interestdetermination module before selecting the function record. In otherimplementations, the function search module may not require that theentity type is matched, but instead, the function search module mayboost the scoring of the function record if the entity types of thefunction record matches one of the entity types selected by the interestdetermination module.

The function search module can implement a variety of different scoringtechniques to generate the function score. In some implementations, thefunction search module can implement a scoring function that generatesfunction scores based on factors that may include, but are not limitedto, whether the entity type is matched, the number of terms matched,which function facets are matched, the number of function facetsmatched, and other factors. For example, the function search module maybe configured to generate a greater function score if an entity type ismatched since an entity type match may indicate that the function (e.g.,search function) is more relevant to the user. As another example, agreater number of terms/facets matched may tend to result in a greaterfunction score because a greater number of term/facet matches mayindicate that the function record is more relevant to the search queryand/or context. As another example, matches for different facets may bescored differently (e.g., some facets may be scored higher than others).

In some implementations, the function search module may implement amachine learned model to generate the function scores. The machinelearned model may be generated using a supervised learning model and/orbased on user analytics obtained during operation of the search system.

Different function facets can have different weightings within afunction record. In some cases, the weightings can be function recordspecific such that similar function facets are not weighted the sameacross all function records, but can be weighted according to theirimportance to that function. The function search module can modify theweightings over time (e.g., based on user analytics).

As described above, the function search module generates one or moreaccess URLs for the selected function records by executing theinstructions included in the template rules. In some implementations,the function search module transmits the access URLs to the user devicefor display as search results on the user device. In theseimplementations, the function search module may transmit the access URLsalong with other data for rendering the search engine results page(SERP). In other implementations, the result processing system can usethe access URLs to access application states and perform additionalsearching operations before transmitting the final search results to theuser device.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example environment in which the search systemtransmits the search results (e.g., the scored access URLs) to a resultprocessing system. In this environment, the search results generated bythe search system may be referred to as “preliminary search results,” asfinal search results may be generated at a later time. The resultprocessing system may be operated by the same party as the searchsystem. In some implementations, the search system and the resultprocessing system can be executed on the same server or collocatedservers.

The result processing system may use the access URLs to access thefunctionality of the corresponding applications. In someimplementations, the result processing system may execute one or more ofthe applications associated with the access URLs. For example, theresult processing system may emulate the applications. In the case ofsearch access URLs, the result processing system can query the thirdparty application servers using the search access URLs and receivesearch responses (referred to herein as “third party results”) from thethird party servers. In some cases, the third party results can includedata for rendering search results (e.g., HTML data). In other cases, thethird party results may include data that the result processing systemfurther processes to generate the final search results (e.g., JSONdata).

The result processing system may transmit the third party results to theuser device as the final search results. In some implementations, theresult processing system may perform further operations on the receivedthird party results before transmitting the third party results as thefinal search results. For example, the result processing system mayscore and re-rank the third party results based on a variety of scoringfactors. The scores assigned by the result processing system to thefinal search results may be referred to as “result scores.” The resultprocessing system may score and rank the third party results based onfactors including, but not limited to, the function score associatedwith the third party results, the response time from the third partyservers, and matches between the search query/context and the content(e.g., terms) of the third party results. In some implementations, theresult processing system may not transmit results to the user device ifthe results have less than a threshold result score.

The result processing system may determine whether to transmit the thirdparty results based on when the third party servers respond. Forexample, if third party results are not received by the resultprocessing system within a threshold period of time, the resultprocessing system may exclude the results from the final search results.In another example, if a third party server responds quickly to theresult processing system (e.g., less than a threshold period of time,such as less than 200 ms), the third party results may be immediatelytransmitted to the user device and/or boosted in the rankings.

In some implementations, the result processing system may asynchronouslytransmit search results to the user device. For example, the resultprocessing system may transmit the third party search results as theyare received by the result processing system. In other implementations,the result processing system may wait (e.g., a threshold amount of time)to receive third party results, and then transmit the results togetherto the user device. The final search results may be grouped byapplication. For example, a set of search results (e.g., 3-5 results)may be transmitted to the user device for each application representedin the group of selected function records.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example GUI that includes final search results forthe Yelp and TripAdvisor applications. Three results are grouped perapplication. The user device renders the final search results asuser-selectable links to the respective states. Each of the userselectable links may include an access URL for the specific state (e.g.,the IHOP, Denny's, and Taco Bell states of Yelp). A user may select(e.g., touch) a user selectable link to access the specific stateassociated with the access URL. For example, the user may select theTripAdvisor Perkins link to launch the TripAdvisor application and setthe TripAdvisor application into a state for the Perkins restaurant(e.g., a description/review of Perkins).

FIG. 8 illustrates a method for generating search results based onidentified entity types. Initially, the interest determination modulereceives the query wrapper from the user device. The interestdetermination module selects entity type records based on data includedin the query wrapper. The function search module then selects functionrecords based on at least one of the search query, context, and theselected entity types. The function search module generates access URLsfor the selected function records. The function search module may thentransmit the access URLs to the user device. In some implementations,the function search module may transmit the access URLs to the resultprocessing system for further processing. In these implementations, theresult processing module may perform further processing of the accessURLs (e.g., via communication with third party servers and/orscoring/re-ranking) and transmit the final search results to the userdevice.

FIG. 9 illustrates a method for generating search results based onidentified entity types, where final search results received at the userdevice are a combination of different third party search results.Initially, the interest determination module receives the query wrapperfrom the user device. The interest determination module selects entitytype records based on data included in the query wrapper. The functionsearch module then selects function records based on at least one of thesearch query, context, and the selected entity types. The selectedfunction records include search URL templates. The function searchmodule generates search URLs for the selected function records. Thefunction search module may then transmit the search URLs to the resultprocessing system. The result processing system retrieves third partysearch results using the search URLs. The result processing systemprocesses (e.g., scores and ranks) the received third party results togenerate final search results. The result processing system transmitsthe final search results to the user device.

In some cases, the environment (e.g., FIG. 1 and FIG. 4) can include afunction record generation system (not shown) that generates functionrecords. In some implementations, the user may interact with thefunction record generation system to manually create/update the functionrecords. The function record generation system may also automaticallycreate/generate function records.

The entity type record generation system and the function recordgeneration system may retrieve some of the data to be included in theentity type records and function records from the internet (e.g.,websites/web applications) and/or native applications via web and/ornative application crawling. For example, the systems may generatefields, such as the additional information fields (e.g., unstructureddata) in the function records, in this manner. The data forsearch-specific term facets may also be retrieved from theweb/application states automatically. For example, the function recordgeneration system can analyze a variety of search states associated withthe function record and identify the various search options (e.g.,search menus and filters) to determine which terms should be included inthe search-specific term facet. In a more specific example, for anapplication that performs flight searches, the function recordgeneration system may identify the city and airport code search inputson the search page as search-specific term facets.

With respect to the actions field of the function record, in some cases,the actions can be manually assigned at the application level and thensubsequently assigned to the function records automatically based on theapplications associated with the function records. For example, if avideo application is associated with the actions “watch,” “download,”and “buy,” then the function record generation system can automaticallyassign these actions to the function records associated with the videoapplication.

In some implementations, the entity type record generation system andthe function record generation system can perform analysis (e.g.,semantic analysis) on the accessed web/application states in order tocreate/update portions of the entity type records and function recordsautomatically, such as entity type names, facet types, and facet terms,such as action terms. For example, the function record generation systemmay identify actions based on data (e.g., descriptive text) associatedwith the interface items (e.g., buttons) of the accessed states.

The entity type records and function records may include fields that arenot illustrated in the figures. In some implementations, the functionrecords may include sample queries and sample responses. The samplequeries may be a list of queries that is manually and/or automaticallygenerated. For example, a human operator may input the queries into thesample queries field in the function record. Alternatively, theenvironment (e.g., FIG. 6) may include a sampling system (not shown)that may automatically add queries to the sample queries field (e.g.,based on entity types, the popularity of the query, the relevance of thequery to the function, or other parameters).

For a function record, the sampling system may generate access URLsusing the sample queries and the access URL template. The samplingsystem may access application functionality using each of the accessURLs. The applications may return third party responses. The samplingsystem may then store some, or all, of the third party responses in thesample responses field of the function record. In some cases, thesampling system may analyze the received responses and select the termsto include in the sample responses field. For example, the samplingsystem may select the most commonly occurring terms in the third partyresponses for inclusion into the sample responses field. In an examplewhere the access URLs are search URLs, the third party responses mayinclude search results and other search state information (e.g., searchmenus, search filters, etc.). In this example, the sampling system maystore terms from the search result pages of the application (e.g.,search-specific terms) in the sample response field. In a specificexample where sample queries are entered into a flight search function,sample responses for flight search queries may include search pagewords, such as “reviews,” “on time arrival,” “WiFi on flight,” or otherwords.

In some examples, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the user devices maycommunicate with the search system via a partner computing system. Thepartner computing system may be a computing system of a third party thatmay leverage the search functionality of the search system. The partnercomputing system may belong to a company or organization other than thatwhich operates the search system. Example third parties that mayleverage the functionality of the search system may include, but are notlimited to, internet search providers and wireless communicationsservice providers. The user devices may send search queries to thesearch system via the partner computing system and also receive searchresults via the partner computing system. The partner computing systemmay provide a user interface to the user devices in some examples and/ormodify the search experience provided on the user devices.

Modules and data stores included in the systems represent features thatmay be included in the systems of the present disclosure. The modulesand data stores described herein may be embodied by electronic hardware,software, firmware, or any combination thereof. Depiction of differentfeatures as separate modules and data stores does not necessarily implywhether the modules and data stores are embodied by common or separateelectronic hardware or software components. In some implementations, thefeatures associated with the one or more modules and data storesdepicted herein may be realized by common electronic hardware andsoftware components. In some implementations, the features associatedwith the one or more modules and data stores depicted herein may berealized by separate electronic hardware and software components.

The modules and data stores may be embodied by electronic hardware andsoftware components including, but not limited to, one or moreprocessing units, one or more memory components, one or moreinput/output (I/O) components, and interconnect components. Interconnectcomponents may be configured to provide communication between the one ormore processing units, the one or more memory components, and the one ormore I/O components. For example, the interconnect components mayinclude one or more buses that are configured to transfer data betweenelectronic components. The interconnect components may also includecontrol circuits (e.g., a memory controller and/or an I/O controller)that are configured to control communication between electroniccomponents.

The one or more processing units may include one or more centralprocessing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), digitalsignal processing units (DSPs), or other processing units. The one ormore processing units may be configured to communicate with memorycomponents and I/O components. For example, the one or more processingunits may be configured to communicate with memory components and I/Ocomponents via the interconnect components.

A memory component may include any volatile or non-volatile media. Forexample, memory may include, but is not limited to, electrical media,magnetic media, and/or optical media, such as a random access memory(RAM), read-only memory (ROM), non-volatile RAM (NVRAM),electrically-erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), Flash memory, hard diskdrives (HDD), magnetic tape drives, optical storage technology (e.g.,compact disc, digital versatile disc, and/or Blu-ray Disc), or any othermemory components.

Memory components may include (e.g., store) data described herein. Forexample, the memory components may include the data included in therecords of the data stores. Memory components may also includeinstructions that may be executed by one or more processing units. Forexample, memory may include computer-readable instructions that, whenexecuted by one or more processing units, cause the one or moreprocessing units to perform the various functions attributed to themodules and data stores described herein.

The I/O components may refer to electronic hardware and software thatprovides communication with a variety of different devices. For example,the I/O components may provide communication between other devices andthe one or more processing units and memory components. In someexamples, the I/O components may be configured to communicate with acomputer network. For example, the I/O components may be configured toexchange data over a computer network using a variety of differentphysical connections, wireless connections, and protocols. The I/Ocomponents may include, but are not limited to, network interfacecomponents (e.g., a network interface controller), repeaters, networkbridges, network switches, routers, and firewalls. In some examples, theI/O components may include hardware and software that is configured tocommunicate with various human interface devices, including, but notlimited to, display screens, keyboards, pointer devices (e.g., a mouse),touchscreens, speakers, and microphones. In some examples, the I/Ocomponents may include hardware and software that is configured tocommunicate with additional devices, such as external memory (e.g.,external HDDs).

In some implementations, the systems may be systems of one or morecomputing devices (e.g., a computer search system) that are configuredto implement the techniques described herein. Put another way, thefeatures attributed to the modules and data stores described herein maybe implemented by one or more computing devices. Each of the one or morecomputing devices may include any combination of electronic hardware,software, and/or firmware described above. For example, each of the oneor more computing devices may include any combination of processingunits, memory components, I/O components, and interconnect componentsdescribed above. The one or more computing devices of the systems mayalso include various human interface devices, including, but not limitedto, display screens, keyboards, pointing devices (e.g., a mouse),touchscreens, speakers, and microphones. The computing devices may alsobe configured to communicate with additional devices, such as externalmemory (e.g., external HDDs).

The one or more computing devices of the systems may be configured tocommunicate with the network. The one or more computing devices of thesystems may also be configured to communicate with one another (e.g.,via another computer network). In some examples, the one or morecomputing devices of the systems may include one or more servercomputing devices configured to communicate with user devices (e.g.,receive query wrappers and transmit search results), gather data fromdata sources, index data, store the data, and store other documents. Theone or more computing devices may reside within a single machine at asingle geographic location in some examples. In other examples, the oneor more computing devices may reside within multiple machines at asingle geographic location. In still other examples, the one or morecomputing devices of the systems may be distributed across a number ofgeographic locations.

As used herein, the phrase at least one of A, B, and C should beconstrued to mean a logical (A OR B OR C), using a non-exclusive logicalOR, and should not be construed to mean “at least one of A, at least oneof B, and at least one of C.” In the figures, the direction of an arrow,as indicated by the arrowhead, generally demonstrates the flow ofinformation (such as data or instructions) that is of interest to theillustration. For example, when element A and element B exchange avariety of information but information transmitted from element A toelement B is relevant to the illustration, the arrow may point fromelement A to element B. This unidirectional arrow does not imply that noother information is transmitted from element B to element A. Further,for information sent from element A to element B, element B may sendrequests for, or receipt acknowledgements of, the information to elementA.

The term memory hardware is a subset of the term computer-readablemedium. The term computer-readable medium, as used herein, does notencompass transitory electrical or electromagnetic signals propagatingthrough a medium (such as on a carrier wave); the term computer-readablemedium is therefore considered tangible and non-transitory. Non-limitingexamples of a non-transitory computer-readable medium are nonvolatilememory devices (such as a flash memory device, an erasable programmableread-only memory device, or a mask read-only memory device), volatilememory devices (such as a static random access memory device or adynamic random access memory device), magnetic storage media (such as ananalog or digital magnetic tape or a hard disk drive), and opticalstorage media (such as a CD, a DVD, or a Blu-ray Disc).

The apparatuses and methods described in this application may bepartially or fully implemented by a special purpose computer created byconfiguring a general purpose computer to execute one or more particularfunctions embodied in computer programs. The functional blocks andflowchart elements described above serve as software specifications,which can be translated into the computer programs by the routine workof a skilled technician or programmer.

The computer programs include processor-executable instructions that arestored on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium. Thecomputer programs may also include or rely on stored data. The computerprograms may encompass a basic input/output system (BIOS) that interactswith hardware of the special purpose computer, device drivers thatinteract with particular devices of the special purpose computer, one ormore operating systems, user applications, background services,background applications, etc.

The computer programs may include: (i) descriptive text to be parsed,such as HTML (hypertext markup language), XML (extensible markuplanguage), or JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) (ii) assembly code,(iii) object code generated from source code by a compiler, (iv) sourcecode for execution by an interpreter, (v) source code for compilationand execution by a just-in-time compiler, etc. As examples only, sourcecode may be written using syntax from languages including C, C++, C#,Objective-C, Swift, Haskell, Go, SQL, R, Lisp, Java®, Fortran, Perl,Pascal, Curl, OCaml, Javascript®, HTML5 (Hypertext Markup Language 5threvision), Ada, ASP (Active Server Pages), PHP (PHP: HypertextPreprocessor), Scala, Eiffel, Smalltalk, Erlang, Ruby, Flash®, VisualBasic®, Lua, MATLAB, SIMULINK, and Python®.

None of the elements recited in the claims are intended to be ameans-plus-function element within the meaning of 35 U.S.C. §112(f)unless an element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for” or,in the case of a method claim, using the phrases “operation for” or“step for.”

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving a search queryfrom a user device via a network; selecting a plurality of entity typerecords included in an entity type data store based on the receivedsearch query, each of the entity type records including: an entity typename; and one or more entity type facets, each of which include termsthat are descriptive of the entity type name, wherein selecting theplurality of entity type records includes identifying matches betweenterms in the one or more entity type facets and terms of the searchquery; selecting a plurality of function records included in a functiondata store based on at least one of the search query and the entity typenames from the selected plurality of entity type records, each of thefunction records including: an entity type field including one or moreentity type names; an access uniform resource locator (URL) template andinstructions for completing the access URL template to form a completedaccess URL; and one or more function facets including terms that aredescriptive of an application state accessed using the completed accessURL; and transmitting search results to the user device via the network,the search results including the completed access URLs from the selectedfunction records.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising selectingthe plurality of function records based on matches between the entitytype names of the selected plurality of entity type records and theentity type names of the entity type fields in the function records. 3.The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the plurality offunction records based on matches between the search query and terms ofthe one or more function facets.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising generating the entity type records in the entity type datastore based on entity records included in an entity data store, whereineach of the entity records includes an entity name, an entity typeindicating a category of the entity name, and entity information relatedto the entity name.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein: for N of thefunction records, the instructions for completing the access URLtemplate includes instructions for inserting the search query into theaccess URL template; and N is an integer greater than zero.
 6. A methodcomprising: receiving a search query from a user device via a network;selecting a plurality of entity type records included in an entity typedata store based on the received search query, each of the entity typerecords including: an entity type name; and one or more entity typefacets, each of which include terms that are descriptive of the entitytype name, wherein selecting the plurality of entity type recordsincludes identifying matches between terms in the one or more entitytype facets and terms of the search query; selecting a plurality offunction records included in a function data store based on at least oneof the search query and the entity type names from the selectedplurality of entity type records, each of the function recordsincluding: an entity type field including one or more entity type names;an access uniform resource locator (URL) template and instructions forcompleting the access URL template to form a completed access URL; andone or more function facets including terms that are descriptive of anapplication state accessed using the completed access URL; accessingapplication states using the completed access URLs of the plurality offunction records; generating a final set of search results based on theaccessed application states; and transmitting the final set of searchresults to the user device via the network.
 7. The method of claim 6,wherein: the completed access URLs are search URLs; and accessing theapplication states includes: performing a plurality of third partysearches using the search URLs; and receiving third party search resultsfrom the third party searches.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein:generating the final set of search results includes selecting a set ofthird party search results; and transmitting the final set of searchresults to the user device includes transmitting the selected set ofthird party search results.
 9. The method of claim 7, further comprisinggenerating the completed access URLs by including terms from the searchquery into the access URL template according to the instructions. 10.The method of claim 7, wherein: generating the final set of searchresults includes selecting a set of third party search results andscoring the set of third party search results; and transmitting thefinal set of search results to the user device includes transmitting theselected and scored set of third party search results.
 11. A searchsystem, comprising: at least one processing unit; and a computerreadable medium including first instructions executed by the at leastone processing unit to perform a method including: receiving a searchquery from a user device via a network; selecting a plurality of entitytype records included in an entity type data store based on the receivedsearch query, each of the entity type records including: an entity typename; and one or more entity type facets, each of which include termsthat are descriptive of the entity type name, wherein selecting theplurality of entity type records includes identifying matches betweenterms in the one or more entity type facets and terms of the searchquery; selecting a plurality of function records included in a functiondata store based on at least one of the search query and the entity typenames from the selected plurality of entity type records, each of thefunction records including: an entity type field including one or moreentity type names; an access uniform resource locator (URL) template andsecond instructions for completing the access URL template to form acompleted access URL; and one or more function facets including termsthat are descriptive of an application state accessed using thecompleted access URL; and transmitting search results to the user devicevia the network, the search results including the completed access URLsfrom the selected function records.
 12. The search system of claim 11,wherein the first instructions further include instructions forselecting the plurality of function records based on matches between theentity type names of the selected plurality of entity type records andthe entity type names of the entity type fields in the function records.13. The search system of claim 11, wherein the first instructionsfurther include instructions for selecting the plurality of functionrecords based on matches between the search query and terms of the oneor more function facets.
 14. The search system of claim 11, wherein thefirst instructions further include instructions for generating theentity type records in the entity type data store based on entityrecords included in an entity data store, wherein each of the entityrecords includes an entity name, an entity type indicating a category ofthe entity name, and entity information related to the entity name. 15.The search system of claim 11, wherein: for N of the function records,the second instructions for completing the access URL template includesinstructions for inserting the search query into the access URLtemplate; and N is an integer greater than zero.
 16. The search systemof claim 15, wherein: the first instructions further includeinstructions for: accessing application states using the completedaccess URLs of the plurality of function records; and generating a finalset of search results based on the accessed application states; and thefirst instructions for transmitting search results to the user devicevia the network includes instructions for transmitting the final set ofsearch results to the user device via the network.
 17. The search systemof claim 16, wherein: the completed access URLs are search URLs, thefirst instructions for accessing the application states includeinstructions for: performing a plurality of third party searches usingthe search URLs; and receiving third party search results from the thirdparty searches, and the first instructions for generating a final set ofsearch results include instructions for generating the final set ofsearch results based on the third party search results.
 18. The searchsystem of claim 17, wherein: the first instructions for generating thefinal set of search results include instructions for selecting a set ofthird party search results, and the first instructions for transmittingthe final set of search results to the user device include instructionsfor transmitting the selected set of third party search results.
 19. Thesearch system of claim 17, wherein the first instructions for generatingthe completed access URLs include instructions for generating thecompleted access URLs by including terms from the search query into theaccess URL template according to the second instructions.
 20. The searchsystem of claim 17, wherein: the first instructions for generating thefinal set of search results include instructions for selecting a set ofthird party search results and scoring the set of third party searchresults; and the first instructions for transmitting the final set ofsearch results to the user device include instructions for transmittingthe selected and scored set of third party search results to the userdevice.